Grip.



No. 63L648. Patented Aug. 22, i899. R. G. LOCKWUD.

GRIP.

(Application led June 21, 1899.)

(No Modely) ma Nonms 51ans no., snorull'nfo.. wAsHmnToN, n. c,

UNITED STATES .PATENT i' FFICE..

GRIP.V

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 631,648, dated August22, 1899. Application ined amie' 21,1399. serai No. 721.299. momia.)

To all whom if; may. concern..-

Be it known that I, RHODES G. LooKWooD, of Boston, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented an Improved Grip forGolf-Clubs and the Like, of which the following is aspeciiicatiomreference being had to the accompanying drawings,in Which-Figure l is a side elevation of the handle of a golf-club, with my gripin place, the interior cells being indicated by dotted lines. Fig. 2 isa central longitudinal section of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is the same as Fig. 2but shows the grip after it has been used sufliciently to express theair from the cells. Fig. 4 is a section, upon an enlarged scale, throughrib b.

The object of my invention is to provide the handles of golf-clubs andthe like with a soft and conformable grip to enable a better hold of theclub to be secured by the user.

It has been usual heretofore .to supply the handles of golf-clubs andthe like with a covering of soft rubber in order to improve the grasp ofthe player in using them, and it has also been customary to roughen theouter surface of this grip by corrugating it or by making raised partsand depressions of suitable size and shape; but these grips heretoforeused have not been altogether satisfactory. It will be obvious that inorder to be serviceable the grip must be firmly connected to the handleit covers in order that in use the golf-club may not turn inside thegrip. To effect this, the grips heretofore in use have been madeconsiderably smaller in interior diameter than the handle they wereintended to be applied to Was in exterior diameter. When, therefore, therubber grip Was applied, it made considerable stretch, and

as it was soft it naturally adhered at first to the club-handle veryrmly; but, as is well known, if rubber is kept continuously understretch its elasticity gradually weakens and breaks down, and in thecase of rubber grips applied to golf-club handles the grip before longconformed itself to the handle upon which it was stretched and ceased totightly hug the same, and this conforming and loss of elasticity tookplace long before the grip was deteriorated in any wayfrom the othercauses which affect the life of rubber.

It is to overcome the difficulties and disadvantages above set forth andat the same time to provide a gripA more firm and soft to the hand andmore closely adherent t`o the clubhandle than those heretofore knownthat I have devised my improved grip.

My improved grip might wellbe called a vacuum-grip, as that is theprinciple upon which it works. considerabl ysmallerininterior diameterthan the exterior diameter of the handle of which it is to be applied Imake the interior diameter of the grip only a trifie less than that ofthe handle of the club. The inside of the grip A is formed into amultitude of Ldepressions @by means of a multiplicity of ribs b, runningaround inside the grip,'and other ribs d running crosswise of the ribsl). These ribs are preferably V-shaped in cross-section and are perhapsone thirty-second of au inch in height. The tubular body of the gripisof thin soft rubber. At either end of the grip is a beveled annular edgee, shaped generallyv as shown in the drawings and With the thinedge ofthe bevel against the handle of the club.

The mode of operation is as follows: The grip is placed in position uponthe handle of the golf-club, the ribs l) upon the inside and restingagainst the surface of the handle of the club. It will be obviousfthatwhen thus cooperating with the club-handle a multiplicity of cellsareformed, the grip forming five sides of each cell and the club-handlethe sixth side. The grip being placed upon the handle it is rolled orpressed upon the outside from end to end or from middle to each end andthe air in any given cell is pressed from cell to Acell until it isfinally expelled from between the grip and the club-handle, the bevelededge of the grip at the end yielding outward to permit the escape of airunder pressure. As a practical matter most players do not take muchtrouble over this expulsion of air, trusting at first to the naturaladhesiveness of the new rubber for the security of the grip upon thehandle and allowing the expul- Instead of making the grip sion to beeffected gradually by the hand of '4 the player in actual use. Theresult of expulsion of air from the cells is that a partial vacuum isformed and the thin rubber forming the outer wall of the cell is pressedagainst the handle. (See Fig. 3.) It will be clear that this pressure ofthe outside air is permanent. It will be clear also that the pres- IOOsure of the hands in using` the club will be concentrated upon the ribs,which will be pressed hard against the club-handle, owing to the factthat all the pressure of the players hands is concentrated upon theribs. lt will be clear also that the pitting of the outer surface ofthegrip by atmospheric pressure leaves an agreeably rough handhold, theouter or large part of theA ribs presentingthemselves to the hands andtaking the pressure therefrom.

The result of my construction is a grip soft, yet firm, and when in usefirmly connected to the handle of the club, While not unduly stretched.Such a grip, While no more expensive to make, is longer lived than anyRHODES G. LOCKWOOD.

litnessesz OLIVER R. MITCHELL, EVERETT E. KENT.l

